Kahuku football

After helping Kahuku finish 11-2 this season with an appearance in their second straight state final, defensive backs Kekaula Kaniho and Stokes Nihipali-Botelho along with quarterback Sol-Jay Maiava are in the running for USA Today’s season-ending Top Star award. Each week during the season, readers voted on a weekly Top Star performer. Now, all 15 are up for the season award. You can vote for any of the three Red Raiders here. Nihipali-Botelho won the first weekly award for the […]

According to National Federation of High School (NFHS) records, Kekaula Kaniho of Kahuku ranks second all-time for most interceptions returned for touchdowns in one season. Kaniho, a 6-foot, 170-pound senior, finished the season five pick-sixes for OIA champion Kahuku. That ties him with Isaiah Keyes of Notth Hagerstown, Md., who had his five in 2013. The record of six interceptions returned for TDs is shared by two players: Maurice Cooper of Saginaw Nouvel, Mich. (1994), and Ben Sukut of Mission […]

A 30-14 loss to Saint Louis in the Open Division final of the First Hawaiian Bank/HHSAA State Football Championships dropped Kahuku out of the USA Today Super 25 rankings on Monday. The Red Raiders finished the season 11-2 and had their 24-game winning streak against in-state teams snapped against the Crusaders (10-1). Kahuku had been ranked every week since August 21 and was as high as 17th this season before losing to No. 1 Bishop Gorman (Nev.), 35-7, in Las […]

Kahuku went 24-2 overall in the past two seasons, thanks in large part to a suffocating defense led by its secondary. Starting cornerbacks Kekaula Kaniho and Stokes Nihipali-Bothelho, both seniors, ended their high school careers with a 30-14 loss to Saint Louis in the HHSAA Open division championship game. Though it’s not the way either wanted to end their prep careers, both took it in stride. “They earned that win. Any team can win on any given night and they […]